Center for Neurocognition, Epistemology and Theoretical Syntax (NEtS), University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Piazza della Vittoria 15, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Cogn Process. 2021 Aug;22(3):435-452. doi: 10.1007/s10339-021-01021-w. Epub 2021 Mar 30.
The role of executive functions in supporting the pragmatics of communication has been extensively examined in clinical populations, but is still under-explored in healthy aging. In this study we addressed the role of executive skills, including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, in older adults' communicative-pragmatic abilities. Pragmatics was extensively assessed by measuring the understanding of figurative language, narrative texts, humor, and implicatures. A hierarchical regression analysis using composite scores evidenced a global effect of executive functions on communicative-pragmatic abilities, beyond demographic and theory of mind aspects. More fine-grained analyses showed that working memory was the strongest predictor of all pragmatic tasks. Specifically, comprehending narratives and humor seemed to capitalize primarily upon working memory, whereas figurative language and implicatures relied on working memory and to some extent cognitive flexibility. Conversely, inhibition did not stand out as a robust predictor of pragmatics. We argue that working memory allows for the simultaneous consideration of multiple pieces of information needed for pragmatic inferencing, and that only once working memory has played its role other executive aspects, such as cognitive flexibility and inhibition, might come into play. Overall, this study highlights the diverse role of executive skills in pragmatics in aging, and more generally contributes to shed light on pragmatic competence in older adults.
执行功能在支持交际语用学方面的作用在临床人群中得到了广泛研究，但在健康老龄化中仍未得到充分探索。在这项研究中，我们探讨了执行技能（包括抑制、工作记忆和认知灵活性）在老年人交际语用能力中的作用。通过测量对隐喻语言、叙事文本、幽默和含义的理解，广泛评估了语用学。使用综合分数的分层回归分析表明，执行功能对交际语用能力具有全局影响，超出了人口统计学和心理理论方面的影响。更细致的分析表明，工作记忆是所有语用任务的最强预测因子。具体来说，理解叙事和幽默似乎主要依赖于工作记忆，而隐喻语言和含义则依赖于工作记忆，在某种程度上还依赖于认知灵活性。相反，抑制作用并不是语用学的一个强有力的预测因子。我们认为，工作记忆允许同时考虑语用推理所需的多个信息片段，只有在工作记忆发挥作用之后，其他执行方面（如认知灵活性和抑制作用）才可能发挥作用。总的来说，这项研究强调了执行技能在老龄化语用学中的多样化作用，更广泛地为老年人的语用能力提供了启示。
